Timbers capture MLS West crown

Darren Mattocks scored early in the second half and the host Portland Timbers won the MLS’s Western Conference title with a 2-1 victory Sunday over the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Portland (15-11-8) thus earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

In other MLS games on the final day of the MLS regular season: SOUNDERS 3, RAPIDS 0 >> Nicolas Loderio scored two goals and host Seattle beat Colorado to take the No. 2 playoff seed in the Western Conference. The defending MLS Cup champion Sounders (14-9-11) avoided this week’s knockout round.

DYNAMO 3, FIRE 0 >> Romell Quioto and Mauro Manotas scored in the second half to help Houston beat visiting Chicago. Houston (13-10-11) will host Sporting Kansas City in the singlegame knockout round. Chicago (16-11-7) also secured a home game in the opening round and will face the New York Red Bulls. FC DALLAS 5, GALAXY 1 >> Roland Lamah scored twice, Mauro Diaz had a goal and two assists, and FC Dallas beat 10-man Los Angeles in Frisco, Texas.

FC Dallas (11-10-13) needed at least a tie and some help to make the playoffs, but the Earthquakes’ win over Minnesota United eliminated the defending Supporter’s Shield winners. REAL SALT LAKE 2, SPORTING KC >> Luis Silva scored in the opening minutes and host Real Salt Lake beat Sporting Kansas City.

Real Salt Lake (13-15-6) finished one point out of the West playoffs. Kansas City will be the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference and play at fourth-seeded Houston in the knockout round. TORONTO FC 2, ATLANTA UNITED 2 >> Atlanta United set a pair of attendance records but failed to secure a first-round bye in the playoffs, while Toronto FC secured the most points ever in an MLS season.

The tie gave Supporters’ Shield winner Toronto (205-9) 69 points on the season, beating the previous MLS mark of 68 set by the L.A. Galaxy in 1998.

Atlanta (15-9-10) will host Columbus in the opening round of the playoffs.

United broke its own MLS single-game attendance record with a crowd of 71,874 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Atlanta also set a season record with an average of 48,200 a game. NEW YORK CITY FC 2, CREW

2>> David Villa scored two goals and host New York City FC tied Columbus to secure the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Columbus (16-12-6), which could have finished as high as No. 2 in the East, will be fifth seed and face No. 4 Atlanta in the knockout round. New York City earned a bye into the conference semis. RED BULLS 2, D.C. UNITED 1 >> Gonzalo Veron and Michael Murillo scored minutes apart and New York beat rival D.C. United for the Atlantic Cup in the final MLS game at RFK Stadium.

New York (14-12-8) will be the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and play at third-seeded Chicago in the knockout round.

Golf

THOMAS CAPTURES CJ CUP

>> Justin Thomas beat Australia’s Marc Leishman on the second playoff hole to win the inaugural CJ Cup in Jeju, South Korea.

Thomas sealed his fifth PGA title in 2017 and his first of the new 2017-18 season when he birdied the second extra hole while Leishman made bogey after finding the water.

The pair went to a sudden-death playoff after completing the first U.S. PGA Tour regular-season event in South Korea tied at 9-under 279. LANGER WINS CHAMPIONS TOURNEY >> Bernhard Langer made a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th hole to overcome a mediocre round and win the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Va. — the first event in the PGA Tour Champions’ Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.

Langer beat Scott Verplank by one shot. Verplank, playing two groups ahead of Langer, shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 to erase a five-shot deficit, but missed short birdie putts on the 17th and 18th holes.

Langer followed his second-round 63 with a 70 to finish at 16 under. GARCIA IS HOST WITH MOST

>> Tournament host Sergio Garcia won the Andalucia Valderrama Masters in Sotogrande, Spain, after shooting 4-under 67 in the final round.

Garcia made five birdies to go with one bogey, as he finished at 12-under 272, one stroke ahead of Joost Luiten of the Netherlands.

JI TOPS IN LPGA >> Eun-Hee Ji fired a 7-under-par 65 to win the Taiwan Championship in Taipei for her first LPGA title since 2009.

Ji, who had a six-stroke lead heading into the final round, carded seven birdies to finish at 17-under 271, six strokes ahead of Lydia Ko, who also closed with a 65.

Tennis

VENUS FALLS IN SINGAPORE

>> Third-seeded Karolina Pliskova cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win over fifth-seeded Venus Williams at the WTA Finals in Singapore.

In Sunday’s other match, second-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over seventh-seeded

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. DZUMHUR COPS KREMLIN

CUP >> Damir Dzumhur recovered from a second-set slip to beat Ricardas Berankis and win the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Bosnia’s Dzumhur beat his Lithuanian opponent 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 to win his second career ATP title. DEL POTRO PREVAILS IN STOCKHOLM >> Juan Martin del Potro won his 20th career title, beating Grigor Dimitrov in a successful title defense at the Stockholm Open. Del Potro held serve throughout as he won 6-4, 6-2.

Marathon

Italian Eyob Faniel won the Venice Marathon after a bizarre incident in which the leading six runners took a wrong turn.

The leaders followed a motorcycle off the course after 16 miles, covering several hundred meters before being made aware of their error and turning back. They lost around two minutes.

Faniel was around a minute behind the leaders at the time, but found himself leading. He won in 2:12:16.

Hockey

U.S. WOMEN TOP CANADA

>> Brianna Decker scored twice to help the U.S. women’s hockey team open its pre-Olympic exhibition schedule with a 5-2 victory over Canada in Quebec City.

Hilary Knight, Annie Pankowski and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans. Meghan Agosta and Jillian Saulnier scored for Canada.

The teams will meet again Wednesday night in Boston. Canada has won four straight Olympic titles, and the U.S. has claimed seven of the last eight world crowns.